1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an outdoor unit of a separate type air conditioner having a heat pump for air cooling and heating.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an outdoor unit of a conventional separate type air conditioner, generally, as shown in FIGS. 3(a), (b), (c), a draft circuit was composed by disposing a U-shaped heat exchanger 22, a motor 23, an outdoor fan 20 enclosed by an orifice 21, and a front grill 27 sequentially from the upstream side of the air flow. A electric control unit 25 and a compressor 26 are disposed in the upper part or lower part of the unit relative to the outdoor fan 20, respectively. Also, a fan motor 23 was fixed on a motor support stand 24.
Other constructions are also proposed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 5-215367, Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 3-213928 and Japanese Laid-open Utility Model No. 62-100425.
That is, in Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 5-215367, an outdoor unit for intake and exhaust at one side using a lateral flow fan is disclosed, in which a blow-out port is provided in the upper part, a suction port in the lower part, and a heat exchanger, lateral flow fan and blow-out port are sequentially disposed at the downstream side of the suction port for forming a draft circuit.
In Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 3-213928, the air suction port and blow-out port are provided in upper and lower positions on a same side, and the heat exchanger and blower are distributed in the upper and lower parts in the outdoor unit main body. In Japanese Laid-open Utility Model No. 62-100425, a unit is designed to suck and exhaust on one side by using two sirocco fans incorporated in the scroll casing of the outdoor unit.
In the conventional constructions of the outdoor unit of separate type air conditioners, however, the air is sent, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 3a, by crossing longitudinally the outdoor unit in the sequence of the heat exchanger 22, outdoor fan 20 and front grill 27, not sucking or exhausting on one side only, and it hence requires a suction space and a blow-out space, and the outdoor unit cannot be installed close to a wall of a building, and considerable space is needed for installation. Therefore, in apartment buildings or the like, the outdoor unit cannot be installed in a corridor or the like, and the installation of the outdoor unit is limited by the particular conditions.
Accordingly, one-side suction and exhaust types were proposed as disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 5-215367, Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 3-213928 and Japanese Laid-open Utility Model No. 62-100425. However, in Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 5-215367, the optimum configuration of the heat exchanger and lateral flow fan is definitely determined, and, in spite of one-side suction and exhaust, the positions of the blow-out port and suction port are definitely fixed, and the blow-out port comes to the upper part and the suction port to the lower part, and there is no freedom with respect to the layout of the unit. The lateral flow fan itself is weak in static pressure characteristic, and is likely to cause surging by a slight load change, and there are many problems in performance experienced with the outdoor unit which is exposed to frost deposit.
In Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 3-213928, since the heat exchanger and blower are distributed in the upper and lower parts of the outdoor unit main body, the size of the outdoor unit for producing the same capacity tends to be larger.
In Japanese Laid-open Utility Model No. 62-100425, since the sirocco fan is used as the blower, the sirocco fan which is a centrifugal blower, requires a scroll casing, and thus the number of parts is increased and the cost becomes higher. Besides, if one sirocco fan is used, the air flow is small for the draft performance, in order to maintain the necessary air flow as the outdoor unit of air conditioner, at least two are needed, which also increases costs.